


Unwaking Dreams

by greenmaskedmarauder94



Series: Nightmares [1]
Category: Shades of Magic - V. E. Schwab
Genre: Canon Compliant, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Post-Canon, apparently angst is all I'm good at, enjoy lol
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-18
Updated: 2020-08-18
Packaged: 2021-03-06 10:09:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,058
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25967914
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/greenmaskedmarauder94/pseuds/greenmaskedmarauder94
Summary: I had to make Lila suffer again. I am so sorry lol. Special thanks to @forthegenuine for betaing this :D
Relationships: Delilah Bard/Kell Maresh
Series: Nightmares [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1884814
Comments: 2
Kudos: 14





	Unwaking Dreams

**Author's Note:**

> I had to make Lila suffer again. I am so sorry lol. Special thanks to @forthegenuine for betaing this :D

_The first thing Lila felt was the heat. Death wasn’t as cold as people claimed, not at first. No, the steal burned hot as the Copper Thief thrust a blade through her chest. “This is for Kasnov,” he snarled. And then the warmth of it all spread, and then she was falling. Down...down… The sky she looked into was black. Death must really be everywhere, for now she could feel the heat of it seeping from cuts on her hands. “Let me in, let me in, let me in,” chanted the darkness. She realized then that it wasn’t the sky at all, but Osaron, dragging her off the edge of the Sanctuary Garden. She scrambled, trying to find purchase, but she couldn’t breathe from the wound in her chest. No, wait. That wasn’t correct. She_ hadn’t _been stabbed during this brush with death, she_ knew _this. But she still coughed, and still tasted the blood in her mouth, and still felt it running down her arms and her chest. And then she was falling again._

_And then Astrid Dane stood before her, pale as ever. And Lila watched in horror as Astrid’s face became her own, and her knife was plucked out of her hand. “Now,” said the evil queen, “I think I will go help Kell.”_

_Her scream was lost in her throat, as darkness swallowed her again, and then she felt the world tip under her as she was falling again._

~*~

Lila shot up in bed, sweat slicking her face and sides, as she tried to register where she was. She took several deep breaths before registering that she was on a ship. In her delirious, post-nightmare haze, she thought for a brief moment that she might be on the _Sea King_. But then her vision cleared, and she registered the body next to her.

No. She was on the _Night Spire_. And Kell was lying next to her. She was surprised he was still asleep, her dreams--no, nightmares--had been so loud to her that she was sure everyone else aboard could hear them too.

She pulled her legs up to her chest and buried her face in her knees. Her uneven breathing gave way to shaky sobs. And then she felt Kell stirring next to her.

“Lila?” He asked, voice full of concern. She sniffed, and he sat up, pulling her against him. “What is it?” He whispered, as she sobbed silently against his chest.

“I had a bad dream,” she choked out after a few moments. She felt his arms tighten around her, and he rubbed his hands up and down her back soothingly.

“You wanna tell me about it?” He asked after she had calmed down some. She shook her head and sniffed again. “Okay. How can I help?”

She pulled away and rubbed at her eyes with the heels of her hands. “I don’t know. Sometimes I get quick snippets of what _could_ have happened during our battle with Osaron, but nothing like what I just dreamed.” Kell leaned forward and pressed his lips against her forehead. “Usually when I wake up and see you next to me I can calm down and go back to sleep, and then forget about it the next day.”

She pushed him back down and buried her face in his chest. She felt his lips against the top of her head as he shifted so that she was laying on top of him. He pulled the blanket up over her and continued to rub her back. He didn’t press her to tell him what she’d seen either. He was just there with her, holding onto her as she tried to clear her mind and slow her heart. As she told herself over and over that what she’d dreamed hadn’t happened.

But it had actually happened. That was the problem. Even though her dream had shifted and blended together, and some details weren’t quite right, everything she’d just relived in that nightmare had happened.

She felt fresh tears fill her eyes and spill over, and then Kell’s arms tighten around her again as he felt them hit his chest.

“Hey,” he whispered. “Talk to me, love.”

She took a shaky breath and then looked up into his face. His blue eye was dark with concern. She slowly began to tell him.

“It started with the fight in Rosenal, when I was stabbed,” she whispered. “And then it kept shifting. Then I was in the garden of the Sanctuary, the night I had to get supplies for Tieren. There had been three afflicted people there, and after I finished dealing with them, Osaron grabbed hold of my leg and tried to pull me into the Isle.” She paused to take another shuddering breath and then went on. “And then it shifted again, until I was back in White London and Astrid had pinned me back and stolen my face so she could go kill you and take the black stone.” Lila brought her hand up to his chest and tried to distract herself by tracing where his scar was even underneath his shirt.

Instead he caught her hand and gently pressed a kiss to her knuckles. She looked up at him then, and moved up until she lightly pressed her lips against his.

He caught her face in his hands and leaned his forehead against hers. “Lila,” he whispered against her lips. There was so much love and concern in his tone that she angled her head until they were kissing.

One of his hands brushed over her hair as the other continued to cup her face. He didn’t deepen the kiss, only let her feel how much he loved her, how strong he knew she was. “Do you want to try to sleep again?” He whispered against her lips.

She shook her head. “Can we just...stay like this? For the rest of the night?” He nodded, and she laid her head against his chest. He ran his fingers through her hair and rubbed her back gently until he felt her drift off to sleep again. He wasn’t sure if it took minutes or hours, but he continued to hold her for the rest of the night and watched until just before dawn to make sure she slept through the remainder of the night.


End file.
